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Small businesses feel great, dealmaking on a tear and World Cup growth

Yahoo Finance

Wall Street seems to be stuck in wait-and-see mode. Stocks started the day slightly higher with the Nasdaq leading the advance. Investors digesting news that small business optimism in December soared by the most on a month-over-month basis since 1980, reaching the highest level since the end of 2004.

Here are some of the other stories the Yahoo Finance team is covering for you today.

Alibaba’s brick-and-mortar bid
Alibaba (BABA), which Yahoo (YHOO) owns a 15% stake in, is teaming up with the founder of China’s Intime Retail Group to take the department-store operator private. The deal bid is worth about $2.6 billion. Why is Alibaba interested in brick-and-mortar business?

US deal bonanza
US corporate deal announcements are off to their quickest pace since 2010. S&P says more than $18 billion in US mergers and acquisitions were announced Monday, bringing the year-to-date value of deals to nearly $36 billion. That’s more than twice the amount in the same period last year. What’s fueling all this M&A activity—and will it last?

World Cup gets bigger
Soccer’s World Cup will grow to 48 teams from the current 32 in 2026. The expansion was approved Tuesday by FIFA, the sport’s governing body. The move was the largest expansion since the World Cup went to 24 teams from 16 in 1982. Is this move more financial than political?